Many industrial and commercial buildings and an increasing number of residential buildings are being constructed with steel stud wall systems for the various benefits obtained, such as reduced environmental concerns, fire safety and reduced susceptibility from warpage, insects, rust and rot.
In the construction of buildings that may be subject to deflection due to wind or seismic forces, it is preferable to allow a degree of freedom of movement to reduce stress and to prevent fracture of connected parts. Ceilings often must rest directly on a structural frame or on load-bearing walls. Curtain walls, meaning walls such as partition walls which are not intended to support vertical loads, are best designed to not support vertical loads due to deflection of the primary load-bearing support structure of the building. Deflection is due to changes in the live loads.
In addition to the occurrence of wind induced or seismic stress loading of a building structure, building component deflection is caused by changes in live or dead loading of the floor below or the ceiling above the curtain wall. However, typical prior construction systems have been designed so that all parts of a building are connected in a rigid and permanent fashion. When such a building structure is stressed, curtain walls tend to be damaged and the degree of damage sustained by other building parts is also increased.